Expert contributors to the Center for Business Modeling provide insights and business experience through fresh and exciting content focusing on business modeling and planning, strategic planning, sales, marketing and more.

Michael James Smyth

Michael James Smyth is EVP and Chief Product Strategist at the Center for Business Modeling (CBM). Mike has extensive experience in leadership, strategy, planning and modeling and holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering, and certification in PMP. Michael is a Colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve and Adjunct Professor at Webster University.

Mike’s chief specialty is creating well-constructed business models that drive efficiency and profit. He has over 20 years of hands-on experience successfully running large organizations, small businesses, startup programs/businesses and technical Program Management Offices. Mike is proficient in all phases of business modeling and program management, including financial administration, business planning, scheduling, resource allocation/staffing, and program monitoring/reporting.

Christopher Ryan

Christopher Ryan is Executive Chairman and a regular contributor to the Center for Business Modeling. Chris is CEO and Founder of Fusion Marketing Partners and has twenty-five years of marketing, technology, and business management experience. Chris is a widely known expert in business-to-business marketing, sales and marketing planning, systems, and business modeling. Christopher is author of four books including the recently released Amazon best seller, Winning B2B Marketing: Proven Methods that Drive Revenue, Leads and Awareness.

Chris has founded or been part of the start-up team of six start-up companies. His specialties include: B2B marketing, business development, branding and positioning, lead generation, social media, web optimization, pull marketing, B2B sales planning, channel marketing, strategic alliances, writing, and public speaking.View Chris’ posts

David Skok

David Skok is a General Partner at Matrix Partners, one of the U.S.’s top five venture firms. David has founded four separate companies, three of which went public.David joined Matrix from SilverStream Software, which he founded in June 1996. David’s work as a value added investor is best known for helping JBoss, Netezza, AppIQ, CloudSwitch, Tabblo, Diligent and TribeHR to successful exits. David serves on the boards of CloudBees, Conductor, Digium, Enservio, GrabCAD, HubSpot, Meteor, OpenSpan, Salsify, Storiant and VideoIQ. David’s blog and business information can be found at www.forentrepreneurs.com

James Franklin

Jim Franklin is CEO and founder of Impact B2B Sales. Franklin has 25 years of sales leadership, enterprise sales, channel development/ management, marketing, and business development experience. He is an expert in business-to-business sales process/strategy, sales enablement, sales operational platforms and systems driving improved alignment between sales and marketing operations.

Prior to founding Impact B2B Sales, Franklin was the Director of Sales at Parascript, a leading provider of Intelligent Document Recognition (IDR) software. He was the Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Zoot Enterprises a leading enterprise credit decisioning, decision analytics and loan origination software provider serving large financial institutions. Franklin also served as both North American and Western Regional Vice President of Sales for Stellent, Inc, a $125 million software supplier.

James FranklinSales Leadership/Sales Enablement – Impact B2B Sales

Patty Tomsky

Patty Tomsky is CEO of Harmony Communications, a business consultancy that supports clients with content marketing; public relations; and social media projects and products to effectively engage stakeholders and gain strategic harmony for internal and external communications programs. She has over 25 years of experience in corporate and marketing communications as well as multimillion dollar project leadership for telecom, information technology, HR and pharmaceutical clients. Patty is also author of several business books on topics such as time management, customer service and consulting.

Patty TomskyHarmony Communications

John Bryant

John Bryant of Sales Lead Strategies has extensive experience in the software industry with a proven track record of achieving lead and revenue goals. With a strong background in B2B Marketing and Sales, John brings a critical perspective on the sales and marketing planning process to his role as a contributor at the Center for Business Modeling (CBM). John often works with marketing and sales teams to better understand a client’s solutions, their business needs and associated pain points. John’s specialties include sales funnel design and management and sales performance and enablement. John’s corporate experience includes NavPress, Optika, Stellent, Oracle, Configuresoft, and Perficient.

John BryantPresident, Sales Lead Strategies

Andy Bailey

Andy Bailey is an Entrepreneur Coach at Petra Coach. He founded Petra to pass on to other entrepreneurs, business owners and leaders the principles and practices he used to build his successful enterprise, which is rooted in the Rockefeller Habits methodology.

In addition to building a successful company, Andy founded the Wireless Reseller Council and served as the regional membership director for the Entrepreneurs’ Organization East Region, encompassing 18 chapters in the eastern U.S. Recently he was named the new Membership Director for EO’s West Coast Region, and currently serves as president of the EO Nashville Chapter, named one of the fastest growing EO chapters in the world. He is a two-time finalist for Nashville Executive of the Year and has been honored as Nashville’s Volunteer of the Year.

Andy BaileyFounder, Petra Coach

Dave Brock

Dave has spent his career developing high performance organizations. He worked in sales, marketing, and executive management capacities with IBM, Tektronix and Keithley Instruments. As a consultant, Dave is recognized as a thought leader, sales and marketing, new product introductions, and strategic partnering. He speaks frequently on a wide range of business, sales, leadership, and related topics. These experiences have allowed him to address audiences in more than 40 countries around the globe.

In addition, Dave is on the advisory boards of Focus.com, SalesEdgeOne/CustomerThink, Social Media Today/The Customer Collective, and is a member of Top Sales Experts. Dave established Partners In EXCELLENCE as means by which he could have a profound impact in improving the effectiveness of business professionals.

Madelyn Young

Madelyn Young is Content Development Manager for EarlyShares, the trusted platform that gives accredited investors direct access to private opportunities. Madelyn is an experienced marketing and public relations professional who writes regularly on entrepreneurship, private investing, and online fundraising for the EarlyShares blog.

EarlyShares is playing a role in the transformation of the private finance market. We are a leading equity crowdfunding platform that provides entrepreneurs and small business owners with the tools to raise capital under new ‘General Solicitation’ regulations.

Steve Imke is a seasoned entrepreneur, currently focused on oil and gas investor education and real estate. Previously, Steve founded Horizon Interactive, a documentation and training company he sold to Interleaf. After acquiring company rights and growing sales to over $32 million, Steve sold Interleaf to Broadvision.